Let's Get Down to Business
by purrfictionist
Summary: A Mulan themed story with lots of twists! It's set in early times when electricity wasn't invented and sword fighting and balls were common. Sydney's whole life changes after she's turned down from Alchemy and she finds herself fighting in a war against the Strigoi as a Dhampir man. General Ivashkov's words, "Let's get down to business" changes her to a whole new person.
1. Chapter 1

**Here's chapter one! I hope you enjoy it and leave a review afterwards! Thank you for an awesome title! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the scenes that I have taken from Mulan! Title was given by :) **

"Sydney, sweetheart are you up yet?" her mother asks through her bedroom's wooden door.

Sydney grunts and pulls her thin hand stitched blanket tightly around her to get some warmth on the cold, winter early morning. She pries her eyes open and looks through her small window to find that the stars and the moons still out.

"Yes mother," she says and pushes herself to her feet. She runs her hands down the skirt of her khaki nightgown and pushes it back against her body. "I am heading to bathe and wash up right now."

"Ok darling, wash extra hard! Remember what day it is?"

_It's my birthday_, she wants to say. "It's Titling Day."

"Right you are dear now go before your father hears you talking."

With that twelve year old Sydney makes her way towards the small bathroom and closes the door behind her. She walks over to the sink and looks at the small mirror to come face to face with a pale faced young girl. Today is her birthday, the day normal humans celebrate with gifts and cake but for Sydney, the daughter of a well-known and powerful Alchemist, her twelfth birthday is a little different from the usual no happy birthday wishing and the no cake or presents routine. It's the day she goes to the Master Alchemist who sees whether she is worthy of being Titled as an Alchemist and getting her Golden Lily inked.

Sydney has gotten her tattoo two years ago when she was ten but to be inked, she must pass the test with Donna Stanton. Donna Stanton is inked with a special ink that only the Master Alchemist can be inked with. Her Golden Lily's ink contains a potion of sorts that lets her see more than a normal human can. She can read palms and tell how the Alchemist will turn out to be in the future years which in return, lets her determine the worthiness of the one who wants to be inked and titled.

Sydney turns the tap on and splashes her face with the chilly water. Why is she so tense? She has done everything that her father has taught. She is as conserved as every other Alchemist woman. She sports a wardrobe of khaki with no color. She wears no makeup, no colors, she doesn't go out unless told to do so, she doesn't ask for anything more than she has, she never says no, she cleans the house with her sister and mother, and she doesn't do studies except for Alchemy. She kept every little complaint to herself for twelve whole years. She hasn't once asked for a blanket that's thicker, a bed that's bigger and not so creaky and hard, she never asked for a mattress, a gown with color, a book on architecture, or time for herself. She eats modestly taking in her father's every insult on how she's a pig. She eats far less than her father, mother, and sister do to keep the body her father wants, no matter how hungry she is. She's perfect. She is most definitely worthy of becoming an Alchemist. She has every right to be inked. So why is she still nervous? Why is she still scared?

XXX

Sydney rubs her hands on her gown nervously as she walks up the cobblestoned pathway with her father by her side. Her father watches her nervous mannerism and frowns.

"Do not rub your hands on your gown like that."

"Yes father," she whispers blushing as they pass by some Alchemists who bow down at the sight of her father. "Father, Zoe is eight. Will she be given her Golden Lily at ten?"

Jared Sage shakes his head. "No Sydney, she will not be given a tattoo. There has been a new law issued that only one child must be claimed an Alchemist. Since your sister Carly is dead, you will be the one to rise as an Alchemist. There will be no need for Zoe once you have passed your test."

Sydney flinches at how easily and calmly he mentioned his eldest daughter's death. Does he have no feelings for her? And the way he directly said that she's going to pass frightens her. What if…_ no_, she chides herself. _I will not think of anymore 'what if's'. I am going to pass. I can and must. _A heavier weight is now put upon her shoulders. Her little sister Zoe, who's only nine years old, will be sucked into this world of nothingness, this world of horror of coming in face to face with _them_ if she does not pass. Maybe, just maybe, when and if Sydney passes, her father will let Zoe be the child she is and let her play and wear beautiful gowns full of color and life. Her father always had a soft spot for Zoe like he once had with Carly. He looked down at Zoe with a light in his eye that Sydney never saw when her father looked at her.

"We are here," her father says as he stops before the small stone building before them. It's exactly how it was two years ago when she came to get her Lily. The chimney stands tall above the wooden roof, the makeshift door looks as intimidating as it was the first time she stood before it, and the stoned walls are washed anew. The only thing different is the garden that was once full of roses, marigolds, daisies, and tulips is frozen and covered in ice. "All you have to do now is walk in, state your name, and take a seat. Donna Stanton will ask you some questions and will then ask for your hand. You will give it to her and she will read your worthiness. It might be frightening at first because of the unnaturalness of it all but as the Master Alchemist, she had to make a sacrifice to corrupt herself with a little darkness in order to guide other humans who seek to become Alchemists down the right path. She will do you no harm. You will feel nothing but the warmth of her fingers.'

Sydney nods and reaches for the door when her father grabs her arm. Sydney turns around and looks up into his brown eyes. "Yes father?"

"Pull your stomach in, you've eaten a lot for breakfast and it is showing."

Sydney blushes and tries to hide that sinking feeling in her heart. Her father's insults are still as painful as they were during her early years. "Yes father," she whispers and enters the dark room with her stomach in. The door closes behind her, leaving her in a dark room with no lights. She spies a small round table and chairs in the middle of the building and makes her way towards it. "My name is Sydney Sage and I am here to be tested ma'am."

A candle bursts into flames besides her and light fills the room to reveal a woman with a beautiful, shining Golden Lily on her cheek. She has creamy white skin with pale blonde hair that is tied at the top of her head with a khaki ribbon that matches her gown. Her nose is big and stubby and her blue eyes are sharp like an eagles. It's Donna Stanton.

"Sit down child," she says. Sydney sits down on the seat and folds her hands neatly on her lap, swallowing back the wave of nausea that's creeping up on her. _I must pass, I must pass,_ she tells herself. "How old are you? You are twelve right?"

"Yes as of today ma'am."

"And why is it that you want to become an Alchemist?"

"Because I want to serve you ma'am and other fellow Alchemist's. I want to keep my father's honor."

"You have big shoes to fill Miss Sage. Your father has done a lot of work for us. He has taken care of many Strigoi these days and has been a great ambassador between us and _them_. As you know, the Strigoi population has been rapidly increasing and they have been moving out from their lands and are attacking innocent villagers now. This has risen the need for Alchemists to dispose of the fallen Strigoi to hide from humans."

"Yes ma'am, I do know."

"Very good. I'd like to see your hand now," she says.

"Already?" Sydney asks. "Are there no more questions?"

Stanton chuckles. "The interview is an easy thing, now we must see what the lines on your palms tell me."

Sydney hands her hand to the Master Alchemist and watches carefully as Stanton reads it. The lady's grip on her hand suddenly tightens and her eyes narrows, as if she in shock.

"Never before," she whispers. "Never before have I seen anything like this with my eyes."

"W-what do you mean ma'am?" Sydney asks.

Donna Stanton lets go of her hand and scrambles away from the table as she holds a hand against her heart. "You do not belong here! You are not worth becoming an Alchemist! You will be rebellious, you have something dark in you child! Get out of here!"

Sydney cries and pushes her hand towards the lady again. "Read it again ma'am, read it again, I am not what you say!" she begs as tears run down her cheeks. _How can this be happening to me? There must be some mistake!_

"Stay away!" Donna yells. "Stay away!"

The door then flies open to reveal a pale faced Jared Sage. "What is happening in here?"

"Your daughter, she is… she has something dark in her Jared! I've seen it all, the lines of her palm tell me that she will be rebellious! She can never be an Alchemist!s"

Jared flushes a dark red and he grabs Sydney by her hair. Sydney cries out in pain and jumps to her toes as her father yanks her hair harder.

"Father there is a mistake!" she sobs. "I am not what she says father!"

Jared slaps Sydney across the face and drags her to the door by her hair. "Don't call me your father. You are nothing to me now, you are nothing to the Sage family," he hisses as he throws her out the door. Sydney cries and falls down the stairs, her cheek burning from where Jared.

"F-ather?" she whispers through her sobs.

"Get out. Leave this town. Donna is never wrong Sydney, and from what she says, you do not belong in Torou, the land of the Alchemists. You are a disgrace to me and a threat to our village and land," he says coldly.

Sydney scrambles to her feet and reaches for her father's hands. "Please….father believe me,"

Jared Sage shrugs the young woman off him and holds his head high. "Goodbye Sydney."

Sydney backs away from her father with her hands shaking by her side and her lower lip trembling. Tears run down her cheeks nonstop and her whole body breaks out into sobs that can be heard miles away. She looks at the small stone building in which Donna Stanton's on the floor, pale as a sheet and where her father stands on the porch, staring at her with hatred and disgust in his eyes. This was where her whole life was supposed to change, this was where she was supposed to have been Titled as an Alchemist and be inked. This was where she was supposed to make her father proud but instead the exact opposite happened. This was where she was supposed to have saved her younger from the ways of the Alchemists. She rubs at her eyes and turns around, broken. Without another glance back, Sydney walks down the same pebbled pathway she walked up with her dad, not knowing where she's going to go.

**So what do you think? My story is going to have a lot of twists and stuff but it's basically Mulan themed. This is the part where Mulan goes to see to see the matchmaker and everything ends in chaos. Only difference is that Jared kicked her out of the village and Mulan's family still kept her. **

**I'm planning to have Hopper be Mushu but the thing is that Hopper can't talk in the books. Do you want him to talk and if he does, should he sound cute and adorable or big and manly? Or do you want him to be how he is now in the books and do the cute little things he does in the Bloodlines series?**

_**Review please! They are much appreciated! **_


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay! Thanks for all the reviews! I enjoyed all of them! It's really weird though, I had four people review my story but only two are showing up on the website.**

** : Thank you! **

**Guest: **_**Big and manly but still named hopper so Sydney can laugh.**_** Thank you! His name will remember Hopper, I don't have the heart to change that **

**Lucy (Guest): Thank you! And I'll do my best **

**Goode-Lover: Thank you! I'll try to make him cuter! **

General Nathan Ivashkov leans against the large oak tree behind him and looks around the fallen village before him. Huts are torn and burned to ashes, glass and wood lie scattered across the muddy ground, small fires still rage here and there. He looks down at the map in his hand and feels his heart sink as he looks at the growing number of X's on the worn out paper.

There are eleven lands, each separated by a thin white border, marking the start of a new kingdom but for seven of the lands, there is only one king. Seven of the eleven lands are occupied by Dhampirs and Moroi, one by the Alchemists, one by humans, one is barren, and the other by Strigoi. They all once lived in harmony, working together to keep their world going but the Strigoi never liked this. To Strigoi, Dhampirs, Moroi, humans, and Alchemists are a waste of their space and very appetizing and so they have started terrorizing villages, starting with the High Lord's seven lands, starting first with the villages on the outskirts.

The High Lord had sent men dressed as Strigoi to gather any information on the growing Strigoi army's plans and just yesterday has received news that they will be attacking a village named Hanksfort the next full moon. And so, the High Lord sent him, General Nathan Ivashkov, and his troop to counterattack the Strigoi army and save Hanksfort but by the time they reached the village, it was too late. The village was destroyed. Villagers push through the debris of the village and look for their loved ones. Heart wrenching sobs echo through the village as the villagers grieve the lost. They had been giving the wrong information. The High Lord's undercover men reported that the Strigoi were going to attack tomorrow.

"General," a soldier says walking over to the tall, grim General eyeing the map with anger. "You called?"

"How many casualties?" The General barks.

"56 sir."

"And how many are wounded?"

"26 sir."

"How many are missing?"

The young soldier looks down at his feet, unable to meet the General's eyes.

"I asked how many are missing?"

"We have counted ten missing so far sir," the soldier says quietly.

So far. There are more. Nathan knows where the missing are, there's no doubt at all. He prays that he's wrong though, he prays that he's so very wrong.

**I know that it was short but this way, I can update all my stories and this one (hopefully) daily but we'll see! School's starting on the nineteenth (***shiver***) so we'll see **** And thank you for all the input on Hopper but it would be awesome to see more people giving me their input because right now, one person wants him to be like the Bloodlines Hopper, another person wants him to be big and manly, and the other wants him to talk and be cute yet manly, so you can see my problem ;)**

**I'll be opening up a poll later on tonight. I'll let you guys know when that happens. So what did you think? Nathan Ivashkov is going to be a jerk to Adrian like he is in the books but he'll be a bit different than the Nathan from Bloodlines. He'll have a soft spot. You'll see!**

_**PLEASE REVIEW! THEY MAKE MY DAY! **_______


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! It's been a long time hasn't it? I've been looking back through the past chapters and it's killing me as I come across my grammar and spelling mistakes. I'll try to go back and correct them but I hardly have enough time to update itself! I'm so sorry if there are any grammar or spelling errors in this chapter. I didn't go back and edit it because I have to sleep soon. Also, I haven't made a decision on Hopper yet so how do you guys want him to be? **

**Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites! I usually would go and address everyone but I don't have time to do so now but I did read all your reviews and I love them all! I appreciate all the love I'm getting **

**Without further ado, here's the chapter! **

Sydney walks through the dark forest wincing every time a twig pokes into her torn, bloody shoes. She's been walking for days and days, passing through villages without saying word and through dark forests that block any sign of light. She's lost track of time and day. All she can think about is how hungry she is, how bad her feet and stomach hurt, how dry her throat is, how dizzy she is from the lack of sleep.

She doesn't know where she is going. She doesn't know why she's still walking. There's nowhere to go to, no place to seek refuge. All the alchemists are most likely aware of who she is, the dark and rebellious want to be alchemist girl. No alchemist village will take her in. She doesn't even know any more if she is Alchemist's land or if she's crossed over to _their_ lands. She doesn't care anymore. All she wants is to go back in life and change her past.

"Hey," someone calls out. "Hey little girl!"

Sydney stops breathing and looks around. Who said that? Crickets chirp nearby, loud and proud, the forest's nocturnal guardians, the owls hoot coldly and look down at her with their sharp yellow eyes. The bush besides her suddenly starts to rustle and Sydney lets out a squeal as she walks into the tree behind her.

"W-who's there?"

A tall, well-built man, in his late twenties steps into the small ray of light that seeps through into the forest floor, carrying an ax on his shoulder. He has oak brown hair that's drenched in sweat and kind blue eyes that seemed to twinkle with life. He's wearing a loose undershirt with arms that are chopped off and dark brown casual looking trousers. He's beautiful, and well built. He's got all the traits of a… Dhampir.

"My name is Mikhail Tanner, and yours?"

"Sydney Sage," she whispers.

"You're an alchemist." It isn't a question.

She nods shyly as she steps behind a tree to hide herself from the tall man. His tone isn't cold, it's warm, almost welcoming. Why isn't he trying to kill her and treat her coldly like father says all Dhampirs act?

"No sir,"

He doesn't question her. "What are you doing on our grounds?" he asks. So he is a Dhampir. "Are you lost Miss Sage?"

How does she answer that question? Is she lost?

"I'm not sure sir," she says timidly. "I don't exactly have a destination."

"Are you a traveler then? Are you on a mission with one of us?"

"No sir."

Mikhail runs a hand through his hair and looks behind his shoulder hesitantly. "Are you hungry? Have you any food with you?"

Sydney's stomach grumbles at the thought of food and she shakes her slowly. "I've got no food sir."

"Well come with me, my house is just out a little further. You won't have to go to town, my house is write on the outskirts of the village. You can eat at our house if you want."

Sydney looks down at her feet. Her father would be disappointed at her, horrified that she's even thinking about going but he's already disappointed in her. He probably doesn't even think about her. But what if her father is right about Dhampir? What if… what if he wants to take her home for dinner and then kill her?

"We won't hurt you," he says as if he read her mind.

"We?"

"My friend is staying with me."

Sydney bites her lip and nods reluctantly. "O-ok," she says. "I am hungry."

Mikhail gives her a small smile. "Alright then, follow me kiddo," he says.

XXX

"Here we are," Mikhail says as he stops in front of a large wooden house. He wasn't wrong. His house was really on the outskirts. There aren't many houses nearby, and you can see the village's lights if you peer through the darkness of the night, or for them, the morning. "My home."

"It's very beautiful sir," Sydney says.

He chuckles. "You can't see a thing in the dark dear, you should see it in the night or um… morning."

Sydney blushes and nods. He grins at her and opens his door. He steps in and holds the door for her as Sydney climbs up the stairs with her hands gripping her gown tightly. A warm smell of bacon and eggs fill the air and Sydney's heart pounding as she looks around for the source. Food.

"Sonya?" Mikhail calls.

A door opens and a woman comes out of what looks the kitchen with an apron wrapped around her thin beautiful frame. She is tall, like Mikhail, but smaller than him by at least a foot. She's got beautiful auburn hair that's pulled into a braid and has bright azure blue eyes. But the thing that sticks out the most is the paleness of her skin, and the fangs that are very evident when she smiles. She's a Moroi. Sydney gasps and stumbles back into Mikhail who squeezes her hand reassuringly. Sonya quickly notices the Lily on Sydney's cheek and hides her fangs hastily.

"You're a Moroi…" Sydney whispers as she scrambles away from Mikhail's touch.

"That I am sweetheart, I didn't mean to frighten you," she says as she blushes. Sydney feels almost bad for wincing like that. "You look awfully pale and worn out, are you ok?"

Sydney manages to nod as Mikhail steps up from behind Sydney and towards the Moroi.

"This here is Sydney Sage. The poor thing was wandering the forest and looked like she was going to faint so invited her to breakfast."

"That's a very nice thing to do Mikhail," she says and grins while he blushes. "Can you watch over the food for a while I find some clothes for Sydney so she can wash up before we eat? And check if there's more meat in the pantry. She needs a lot more than some toast and bacon."

"You need not work yourself for me miss, I'll be fine with some bread."

"Nonsense dear," Sonya says gently as she leads her down a hallway. "You're as pale as a sheet. I can tell from miles away that you haven't had any food in you."

Sydney blushes and follows Sonya up a flight of stairs she didn't notice before. No one ever said that she needed food. Her kind, loving mother always looked pained when she took away food from Sydney's plate when her father ordered to do so but she could never go against his command. She was always under him, just like everyone else was in Jared Sage's house.

"Here we are," she says pushing open a large door to reveal a spacious yet cozy room. Sonya walks over a to a large wardrobe with beautiful exquisite details and pulls open the knob to reveal loads and loads of beautiful gowns, each in a different color. "This orange gown here looks small enough for you, and here are some underclothes and a towel. The bathroom is right there."

Sydney nods. "Thank you miss," she says softly.

"Don't worry. I'm very sorry to ask but are you here for someone? I just can't help myself dear, curiosity gets the better of me all the time. It's just that I know everyone in the village and I haven't heard of an Alchemist coming."

Sydney looks down at her feet. "I'm not an Alchemist ma'am, I'm not inked."

Sonya nods and Sydney can tell right away that she has more questions. "Oh, alright then, I'll um, leave you now. Just holler if you need anything."

Sydney nods silently and watches as Sonya leaves, closing the door behind her. Sydney walks into the bathroom and shuts the door behind her with her gown and towel over her shoulder. She walks over to her mirror and touches her face as she takes in her reflection. Her face is pale and tear stained. Her hair is sticky from dirt and sweat as is her gown. What will her father think of her?

Sydney shakes her head. He is no longer my father, she tells herself as she recalls Jared Sage's cold words. Nor am I his daughter. I am no longer Sydney Sage. I'm Sydney. Just plain old Sydney.

**So we've met Mikhail and Sonya! Yay! I love those two! What did you think of the chapter? Let me know!**

_**Reviews are appreciated **___


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